Heart of Darkness
by Jasmin Kaiba
Summary: Number XI of Tidbits. After being abducted by Uchiha Itachi, little Sakura is forced to grow up among the members of Akatsuki. Surrounded by their darkness, her heart is beginning to blacken too. The only light is Itachi's irreplacable presence she draws stregth from. How will attending the Chuunin Exams in Konoha affect her new life? Will old bonds resurface again? R
1. Chapter 1

**Heart of Darkness**

**by Jasmin Kaiba**

* * *

**Part I  
**

They really did it this time. They'd beaten her black and blue and Ino hadn't been there to try and protect her. Somehow, Sakura was glad that Ino had stayed home because of a cold. This time even the boys had joined in and hit her. And only because Sasuke-kun had said that he'd see _her_ tomorrow, when he left for home. It's not like it was her fault. She'd only thanked him for correcting her aim when they had target practice that day. And he'd smiled a bit and told her, _"Sure, no problem. See you tomorrow, Sakura."_ Ami had been livid, because Sasuke-kun never remembered her name and called her Nami. And so she, four other girls and two boys had attacked Sakura on her way home.

She couldn't even sit up to go home. Home. That had become the orphange as of three months ago when her single mother had been killed on an A-ranked mission. The kids hated her even there. Most were civilians and were jealous of Academy students. Ino had said something about shinobi privileges Sakura didn't understand and couldn't remember. The only person geniunely nice to her there was Naruto. He was a goof, and a bit of an idiot, but he smiled when he saw her, and talked with her all the time and he thought she was the prettiest girl in the Academy. He probably hadn't met Ino yet.

Wincing as she put weight on her heavily bruised wrist, she tried to haul herself up, but fell on her behind again as the pain in her knees became unbearable. Dinner would be over in fifteen minutes and she'd go hungry to bed if she didn't return on time. She hadn't eaten anything that day, because one of the boys at the orphange had thrown her plate on the floor and she was too afraid to ask for more, then Ami had fed her meager lunch box to Kiba's dog behind his back. She was really hungry, her stomach was growling something fierce and her trembling wasn't caused by her many injuries or the cold wind. She would faint if she didn't eat anything soon.

After a few more minutes of desperately trying to pick herself up and somehow reach the orphange on time, Sakura heard steps and stilled. They were light and hurried, coming in her direction. Afraid, but still unable to move properly, she started scooting backwards as a tall, dark figure came into view.

* * *

Itachi hurried along the way towards the eastern gate of the village. He refrained from jumping up on the trees lining the trail and breaking into a run, because he had to get out of the village inconspiciously. Since he always left through the eastern gate and never run till he passed the gate guards, they would get suspicious if he changed the pattern he'd used for years now. They had to think he was leaving on a mission. The success of the coup he'd just completed depended on it being undetected till the morning. He had to hurry.

He rushed through the bushes, absorbed in his own thoughts when a small squeal demanded his total attention. He came to a halt the moment he heard it and looked down toward his feet. And there, crowding against a particulary dense bush was a tiny girl with pink hair, big tearful green eyes and trembling hands. He stared at her for a moment incoprehending, before he noticed the bruises covering her face, arms and what was visible of her legs. And the fear written all over her small, wet face was so strong that he was taken aback for a second. Then he noticed that she was attempting to crawl into the bush backwards, but the branches were too strong for her small body and she couldn't get even an inch of herself inside.

Temporarily forgetting about what he'd done and had yet to do, he turned and crouched in front of her. She tensed, but didn't move or make a sound. She was terrified. He was wearing his ANBU uniform without the mask hiding his features, but he somehow doubted that she'd ever even seen an ANBU before. Only his hitai-ate identified him as a shinobi to her. Unable to take the terror on her face anymore, he decided to speak.

"What are you doing here this late?" he questioned softly, his voice barely above a whisper and she seemed to relax just a bit. "Are you alright? Why are you hurt?"

Her big eyes left his and she stared at her own hands before a tear streaked from her left eye. A second later, she answered shakily, so quiet he had to strain his ears to hear her. "Some kids from the Academy beat me..."

So she went to the Academy. But if she was crying in the bushes after letting some of her classmates beat her... Well, her future as a ninja wouldn't be bright. Even if she made it to genin, which he seriously doubted. Still, it had piqued his interest.

"Why?"

She looked up to him again and shrugged. It wasn't the first time, she was used to the beatings. What a pathetic ninja she would make. "Today, because Sasuke-kun knows my name and helped me, when he doesn't even seem to notice that Ami exists... Usually, because Ami says I'm ugly, or Iruka-sensei praises my chakra control which he says is the best he'd seen in years. Ami can't control her chakra at all and always fails at the Henge no Jutsu."

His eyes sharpened as he picked out the information in any way useful to him. This girl was a classmate of his little brother, probably even his friend. And despite his earlier assumption, she could have bigger potential than Sasuke if her chakra control was as good as she said. With the proper training she could become a hell of a kunoichi. She could be useful to him.

"Can't you stand up?" he asked and she shook her head before looking down again. She was ashamed of her weakness. "Come, let me help you," he offered and her eyes brightened as she nodded.

Itachi stood before he bent and scooped her up. She didn't resist. Throwing his earlier plans mentally away, he activated his sharingan and easily put the girl to sleep before dissolving into a flock of ravens and vanishing with her in his arms. Nobody would miss her.

* * *

**Two years later, Amegakure**

Itachi stood outside the protective rain that surrounded the large village and watched his ten year old ward as she sparred against Kabuto, a boy under his partner Orochimaru's tutelage. Truth be told, the young Uchiha trusted Orochimaru as much as he would a poisinous, agressive snake, but Kabuto was a very gifted medic-nin and Konan, Leader's partner had commented that Sakura would be suited to become one as well. And so he'd asked Kabuto to teach her. He was always present for the lessons and left the girl with Konan or Leader when he had a mission.

In the two years he'd been taking care of her, Sakura had grown amazingly. She was still too small for her age, but she'd shed her shy and unsure disposition for guts and a healthy dose of self-confidence. And she'd developed quite the nasty temper. Where she got that, he wasn't sure.

Kabuto had taught her well and she seemed to be a natural healer, picking up on the older boy's teachings quickly and learning his techniques in record time. She'd tried to develop some techniques on her own, but... Somewhere along the proces she'd messed up and what was meant as a healing techique ended up being a very nasty attack using healing chakra. She could control the blood inside her target. With a little training, Kabuto had commented, she would be able to stop hearts with a single bursh of her hands.

If she wasn't so terribly unsuitable for stealth mission with her brash and staright-forward nature, Itachi would've trained her to be an assasin. As it is, she was more suited for open combat, face-to-face. He'd also discovered that she had a natural affinity for genjutsu. It wasn't a nice way of discovering this, when he'd woken one morning only to find himself back in the Uchiha compound in Konoha, surrounded by the corpses of the family he'd killed with his little brother laying unmoving and dead at his feet. It had taken him a good while to figure out that it was neither dream or reality, but a very nasty genjutsu. He'd dispelled it with the sharingan only to find his small ward sitting on his chest with the biggest grin on her face. The nine year old had giggled at the shock in his eyes and asked, "Did you like my genjutsu, Itachi-nii?" When he'd demanded to know where she learned that, Sakura had shown him a scroll Konan had given her.

The genjutsu worked only on sleeping enemies and he'd pointed this out to the girl, but she'd only grinned again and brought her small hands to his temples. He was deeply asleep the next second. She'd woken him again and proclaimed proudly, "Kabuto-sensei taught me!" That was also the day he'd found out that healing chakra could be very sinister, in the right hands. Or the wrong, depending how you look at it.

Few days ago, Leader had commented that Sakura would be ready to officially join Akatsuki before she would've graduated the Academy had she stayed in Konoha. Itachi had tried to imagine the tiny girl with pink hair in an Akatsuki cloak intimidating an enemy. It was sad how comical that image had been. But that might have been because the only picture of Sakura in the black and red cloak was the one of a month ago when he'd come out of the shower to find her in his room, grinning at him from within the folds of the heavy garment. She'd looked like a toddler in her father's shirt. She said she wanted to look how it would suit her, when he'd asked about it. The next day Konan had arranged one such cloak to be made for her. The tailor had looked from the girl to Konan to Itachi and back to Sakura as if he'd wanted to ask how he was supposed to make a standard issue cloak fit a girl who only reached Itachi's he'd done it and she still looked ridiculous wearing it.

Konoan had giggled when she'd seen Sakura in her new clothes and Pein had picked up the pouting child and promised that she would go on missions when she was twelve years old. Sakura had than surprised them all by proclaiming that her first mission would be to go to Konohaand show Ami, her worst childhood enemy, how strong she'd become. What had shocked Itachi was Sakura's answer to Konan's question on how she planned to show her new power to Ami. The ten year old had grinned almost maniacally and whispered, "I'm going to make her heart explode in her chest and she won't be able to do anything to help herself." That was when he learned that the little sunshine who always smiled at him had developed a dark side as well. It was to be expected, after being abused and beaten most of her early years and then end up living with some of the most dangerous people in the world. It was the first time he'd questioned his decision to take her with him.

* * *

The new member of Akatsuki fascinated Sakra to no end. The blond boy, no more than a year older than her, had already been a member of ANBU back in his native village, Iwagakure and he had _mouths_ in his palms. He was also brash, cocky and on the arrogant side, but the two of them got along just fine once he'd gotten over his initial fury at the way Itachi-nii, Kisame-baka and Sasori-dono had recruited him. He'd cursed the Uchiha genuis several times, muttering somethng about almost blowing himself up because of the accursed Sharingan. When he'd called Itachi a fucker the fifth time in a single sentance she'd hit him over the mouth with all her strength and had promptly cast her most sinister genjutsu on him. He'd struggled in it for well over fifteen minutes before Leader had found them and commanded Sakura to release him. Deidara had learned his lesson and refrained from insulting Itachi in her presence again.

She was just shy of thirteen when Sasori-dono had brought the news of the Chuunin exams held in Konoha. Sakura had wasted no time in pestering Leader, Itachi and Konan to let her participate, insisting she still had to take revange on Ami, and where better than the Chuunin exams where all shinobi were invited?

"Sakura, listen to me," Itachi tried to talk his charge down before Pein decided to allow her even this nonesense. "Only genin teams are allowed to take exams. You're not even a genin, you don't have a team. There's nothing we can do."

She started to pout, but in a moment her face brightened and a victoreous smile broke on her cherubic features. "But we can! I can take the genin exams here! And two genin from the Academy can be my teammates!"

This time Pein broke in. "Even if something like that was possible, Sakura, we'd be hard pressed to find two genin close to your age who are on your level of knowledge and power. If you take the Chuunin exams I'd expect you to pass them with flying colors but without a balanced team that'd be impossible."

"Deidara can be one of my teammates!" desperation seized the small girl and all reason left her.

"I'm already ANBU for fuck's sake, you squirt! I can't take the exams again, yeah!" the blond broke in from the door where he'd come in search for the Leader about a mission he was about to take.

"Are you stupid or what?" Sakura reeled at her sometimes friend. "You won't just waltz in Konoha and say 'Hi! I'm Deidara, a missing nin from Iwa, currently working for the evil organization of Akatsuki. I'm already and ANBU, but I want to take the Chuunin exams again!' They'd kill or imprison you, dimwit! We would have to use a small henge to alter our looks and we won't give them our real names. You're not even a full year older than me, so who the hell will suspect that we're on a much higher level than the avarage Genin, huh?"

Itachi had to admit that she'd thought this through quite well, but the danger of such a expediton was simply too big for him to sit by idly. "You'd still be missing one more teammate and a sensei. Kisame and I wouldn't be able to mascarade as your sensei and neither would Sasori. There's no way for you to go, Sakura, period."

"No!" she exclaimed and he sensed a temper tantrum in the making. But before it had a chance to manifest itself, Sakura calmed down again. "Sasori-dono can be our other teammate. The Chibi Doll, his real body is that of a thirteen year old anyway. And Konan could be our sensei. Nobody knows her. Please Itachi-nii?"

She gave him her most adorable puppy dog eyes, but he forced himself to resist their charm and not to melt. Seeing that she had no luck with him, she turned to Pein.

"Pein-sama," she whispered sadly, crawling into his lap and giving him no chance to turn away from her glistening, large viridian pools. Pein had always been a sucker for The Eyes, as were Kisame, Deidara and Itachi. "I really, really, really want to attend the Chuunin exams. I want to prove to you that I'm worthy being an Akatsuki member and that you can count on me. I'm strong, really strong, I'd pass the exams easily and make you proud, I promise. Please let me go, Pein-sama. Pretty please with a cherry on top?"

For a moment she thought that their auburn-haired Leader would refuse her as he simply stared at her with his ringed gaze, but then he gave a small sigh and nodded. "Very well. The exams are in two weeks. Deidara and Sasori will finish their mission in no more than three days. When they get back we'll see how we're going to disguise you three. Meanwhile you'll take the genin exams here, Konan will arrange everything."

"YES!" she shouted happily, excitedly jumping up in Pein't lap before she threw her arms around the amused man's neck and peppered his cheeks with small kisses. "Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"Yes, yes," Pein sighed in defeat. "Now get off me, you brat!" he scolded lightly and she jumped off with a smile, shooting a victorious smirk in Itachi's direction as he followed her out of the room.

When they left, Konan leaned against the back of Pein's chair and giggled lightly. "That girl is going to break hearts left and right when she grows up. Itachi will have to fend off her suitors with a stick in a few years."

"Serves him right," Pein comented lightly. "He's spoiled her rotten."

"Don't act as if you are not catering to that child's every whim too," his partner reminded him amusedly.

"Hm," was all he said as he turned his attention to the pouting blond in the corner. "Did you need anything, Deidara?"

* * *

"I can still see the traces of chakra, Sakura. You have to use less," Itachi droned from his place under the large fir three and his young ward used ine henge after another.

Frustrated, she let the last one drop and glared at the Uchiha genius. "Of course you can see it, Itachi-nii, you have the sharingan, it's not fair! Don't use it now!"

He stood up and walked over to her. "I have to use it, Sakura. Sasuke has the sharingan as well. If he ever uses it on you, he'd be able to see the chkra traces all around you, he'd be able to tell that you're using a henge. There's the Copy Ninja who has the sharingan as well. Work harder."

"Great. You killed every single person in your Clan save the one person that will be there when I take my exams. Why did you do that?"

Itachi only smiled slightly and caressed the top of her head. "He's my brother. You know that."

Of course she knew. She was the only one but she knew very well how much Itachi loved his brother. She was also the only one who knew the truth behind the massacre. That truth would die with her if Itachi so wished it. Her ultimate loyalty belonged to him after all, together with her heart. "Yes, yes, I know. What about the Copy Ninja, than? Why's he alive?"

"Because he's not part of the Uchiha Clan, his sharingan is a transplant. Besides I doubt even I could defeat the infamous Copy Ninja without help," he admitted shamelessly. Nobody knew his limits like Itachi himself. He'd never been arrogant, something like that simply didn't have any place in the always practical Uchiha.

"You have the Mangekyou Sharingan, it's something that not even the man of the thousand jutsu can boast," his ward pointed out and he nodded.

"Yes, but I still can't control it as well as I would like to. It drains me of chakra faster than I can afford in a battle. Besides I wouldn't want to kill the Copy Ninja, as you well know."

"Of course, Itachi-nii. I know who you're loyal to, even if I think that you're crazy for that, but that's just my humble opinion."

"Humble, huh?" he teased affectinately. "I wasn't even aware you knew that word, my little one."

She huffed and crossed her thin arms over her still flat chast. "I still remember my life before you found me. That now I'm happy and well fed and don't have to live in fear anymore, doesn't mean I've forgotten how I've suffered before I met you. I owe you my life, I'd do anything for you. I'd die for you."

"I don't want you to die for me, Sakura. I just want you to grow up ad live. Someday I'll give you the life you deserve, but for now be patient." With that he hugged her to him and she melted in his embrace, slipping her arms around his waist and squeezing with all her might. He may not want to hear it, but if he were ever in danger, she'd sacrifice her own life to save him. There wes no other way to thank him for everything he'd done for her. Her gratefulness towards him was just as great as her unconditional love. Itachi had just to accept that.

* * *

Deidara and Sasori finished thier assignement in under three days and returned to the headquarters just in the same time that Sakura mastered a simple henge that changed her hair and eye color without being discernible as henge. She stood in the doorway of Pein's study with waist long black hair and big ice-blue eyes surprising the hell out of Deidara just for kicks. Well kicks and seeing his shocked face. The blond needed almost a full minute before he recognized Itachi's ward.

"Not bad, squirt." He commented grudingly and she smirked, overlooking his insult to her height for the first time.

"Of course. Not even the sharingan can tell that this is a henge. Now you just have to do the same trick as successfully and we're all set," she daunted.

"Don't talk such gibberish, squirt. As if I would have throuble with an Academy level henge, yeah. Better tell Sasori to practice, my control is better than his, after all."

"Yeah right," Sakura agreed sarcastically. "Itachi-nii will judge if you can pull off this _Academy level henge_. And Sasori-dono can do it without problems, I've seen it. He'd older, more experienced and over all a better ninja than you."

Sasori hid a chuckle behind a slight cough and walked around Sakura into Pein's study after caressing her hair affectionately. The girl had taken an almost immediate liking to him when he'd been brought into Akatsuki and as an artist he was most curious what kind of beauty this fiesty child would turn into. Whatever it turned out to be, Itachi was royally screwed, he was sure of that. The Uchiha would be even more under her charm when she fully developed into a breathtaking swan a few years down the road. Than again, his partner might be just as screwed. He hid it well but Sasori knew he was affected by the girl more than he was wiling to admit to even himself.

"Listen here, squirt," Deidara hissed furiously. "I can do everything Sasori can and more, yeah. Need I remind you that I was ANBU at fourteen, hmm? I'm the better ninja here and the better artist, too. You need to learn respect, you annoying little brat. You and that fucker Uchiha."

And just like that Sakura's good mood dissipated and Deidara was on her bad side once again. "You have no right to call me a brat, when you're only months older than me. ANBU at fourteen, so what? What's so great about that? Itachi-nii was an ANBU _captain_ at fourteen. I'll respect you when you do something that deserves respect. And if you call my Itachi-nii a fucker again not even Pein-sama will save you from my genjutsu. I learned a new one a few days ago, but I promised Itachi-nii not to use it on anyone I don't want to have permanent psychological damage from it. I'll use it on _you_, you disrespectful brat!"

Deidara threw his hands up in the air and cursed loudly before turning to the now black-haired girl again. "You and that Uchiha are all the same, yeah! You can only win fights when you use petty mind-tricks. None of you stand a chance against me in a real fight so you resort to somethng like genjutsu. How pathetic is that, huh?"

Sakura's cute features twisted in a sinister sneer as she fixed the exploives master with a look worth of Pein's best glare. "I don't stand a chance against you without genjutsu, huh? You so sure of that, Deidara? Why don't you take me on and see for yourself just what I'm capable of? You assume that because Orochimaru defected and took Kabuto-sensei with him I stopped training in medical ninjutsu. Think again, idiot. I can do just about anything to your body with healing chakra. I can cook you from the inside by heating your blood to the boling point., I can rupture organs and arteries without havoing to cut your flesh, I can cut off the blood flow to your heart or brain, I can make your heart explode in your chest with just a brush of my hands, I can my make your body into a puppet by controlling your blood. You only need to get close to once to lose not just the fight but your life as well. And Itachi-nii... He may not be able to execute the variety of the madical jutsu I can, but he can take you down with a well placed katon jutsu just as easily. The sharingan has more uses than just genjutsuafter all. Pray that you never have to stand on the opsing side of Tsukiyomi, Amaterasu or Susano."

Deidara huffed angrily, doing his best to mask the look of apprehension that had come over his features at the mention of the crimson doujutsu's abiliteis. "Just fancy names for nothing if you ask me, yeah."

Sakura didn't take offence and only smirked at him. "Yeah right. Tsukiyomi is a whole world of Itachi-nii's making, a second here is a day there, and if you get caught in it you get tortured in the worst way imaginable. Just a second is enough to kill most ninja. Amaterasu is black fire. It cannot be taken out by any jutsu and it will burn and burn till it reaches and finishes its target. Susano is a demon body made of chakra and is the ultimate defense jutsu. Once it is activated the Susano will protect its wielder till they run out of chakra, of course it can attack as well. It will do you a world of good to remember that and not get too cocky around Itachi-nii."

Something like disbelief clouded Deidara's almond-shaped blue eyes as he regarded the little girl in front of him. He didn't know very much about Itachi and even less about the sharingan and its potential powers, but he knew that even the fearsome dojutsu of the Uchiha Clan couldn't be that powerful. "As if I belive you, yeah. If the sharingan had such powers, I doubt that Itachi could have eliminated the whole clan in a night all by himself. They wuld have torn him apart, yeah."

"Ba—ka," drawled the henge'd squirt and cocked her small hips to the side. "Of course the sharingan _doesn't_have such powers. What do you it is, huh? The ultimate form of the doujutsu has these, the Mangekyou Sharingan. Only very few in the Uchiha Clan ever obtained it, because it demanded a high price."

"And what price, hmm?" demanded Deidara venomously, not liking what he was hearing at all.

"The life of the person closest to you, your best friend," came the omniously sinister reply of the girl and the blonde stiffened.

"He killed his best friend just to gain more power? Wow, he's even more cold-blodded and ruthless than I thought, yeah."

"No," Conan contradicted Deidara, coming from Pein's study to stand behind Sakura. "Uchiha Shisui, Itachi's cousin and best friend tried to kill Itachi. In the fight that ensued, Itachi came out the winner and Shisui payed his betrayel with his life. That's how he got the Mangekyou. It was way before Itachi eliminted the Clan."

Sakura nodded and Deidara just scowled, the urge to say that the Uchiha deserved to be betrayed by his best friend just barely contained behind a hint of _understanding_. If there was one thing the blonde eplosive's master understood it was betrayel. Everyone he'd ever trusted had turned on him in the end, after all. He could sympathise with the Uchiha on this, even if just a bit. The guy was still a sick fuck in Deidara's mind, but he refrained from voicing his opinion in front of Sakura, that girl was menacing and merciless when it came to defending her beloved _Itachi-nii_, what she saw in him, the blonde will never know.

"Whatever," he brushed it off as nonchalantly as possible. "I really couldn't care less, either way. But at least he's not as sick as I thought. Now move, shrimp, Sasori and I have to debrief with the Leader and then you can pester us with that exam of yours."

Without making the fuss Deidara had expected, Sakura moved from the doorway to let him pass. As he made his way to Pein's desk, he saw from the corner of his eye as she waved to Konan and disappeared from the room, still in that henge.

As if reading Deidara's mind, the bluenette approached the desk and said, mostly to Pein, "She decided to keep the henge up for as long as possible, to built chakra stamina. Itachi told her to do that. She might get in a tight situation during the exam an the let the henge fall if her control on her chakra losened."

The auburn-haired leader nodded and laced his hands in front of his face. "That is sound advice on Itachi's part. Though I hope it won't come to that. Deidara and Sasori will be with her all the time, without exception. It is on them to protect her on all costs. On this mission, Sakura's safety is their first priority."

Even as he never took his ringed gaze off of Konan both Sasori and Deidara knew that Pein's words were mostly directed at them. It was a veiled order. Pein would never openly show it, but that little girl meant more to him than he was even ready to admit to himself. It was plain to see that she'd charmed hm completely. Like she'd charmed everyone else. Even Zetsu seemed sometimes affected by her. If Itachi had known what kind of trouble he was preparing for all of them he probably would have never abducted the child from Konoha. But, than again, maybe he would have. Deidara suspected that the primary reason for Itachi's abrupt action concering that girl-child was simply that the Uchiha prodigy didn't want to feel lonely.

Pein broke his thoughts. "Your report, Sasori, Deidara. And make it quick, you have to train as soon as you rest."

Nodding, the two other shinobi started telling their Leader about what had happened on the short mission.

* * *

Two weeks later, Sakura, Deidara, Sasori and Konan stood in front of the towering green gates of Konoha, waiting to be admitted inside by the chuunin and jounin who all inspected the papers of the invited genin teams. There was some form of security, but it was lax, to say the least.

Their wait was no longer than twenty minutes and than Sakura and her teammates found themselves standing in front of the Academy. Banishing her bad memories of this places to the deepest reces of her mind, Sakura smiled brightly at Konan who handed her the filled out aplication form and said goodby to them, adding that she'd see them afterwards. Before they could enter the Academy for the first, written part of the exam, the now black-haired pinkette caught a glimpse of a man wearing a strange, cotton mask over the lower half of his face. He wore the standard issue uniform for jounin and she decided he was probably the sensei of a team entering the exams. That was't what caught her interest though. It was the Konoha hita-ate the man wore over one eye. That and the fact that his hair was silvery-white though he appeared not much older than Pein and Konan, told Sakura that this was the famed Copy Ninja. The only person beside Itachi's brother Sasuke who still had the sharingan. She really would like to find out if he was as strong and powerful as Itachi-nii always said he was, but that was a discovery best left for another opportunity.

"We have to go to the third floor, says here," mumbled Deidara, consciously supressing his speach quirk. In his hand was a white sheet of paper given to him by a chuunin at the entrance, it contained the information where they would find the person responsible for the aplication sheets.

"Third floor it is," Sakura said brightly, and taking her companion by their elbows, she steered them to the staircase. "Come on boys, let's rock this thing."

On the second floor was a huge groupd of genin teams all staring at a door guarded by two chuunin. Above the door was sign indication that it was the room they'd been looking for. Deidara raised an eyebrow, looking from the sheet in his hand to the door and back again a few times. Sasori just folded his arms over his chest and scowled.

Sakura didn't notice any of that. She was too busy looking at the backs of three familiar people. The spiky black hair and the the navy shirt with the Uchiha emblem could only belong to Sasuke, the messy blonde hair and orange jumpsuit simply screamed Naruto and the long brown braids of the girl on Naruto's right could only belong to Ami. She'd found her target sooner than she'd expected. Then she heard Ami speak.

"This is it, Sasuke-kun," she said looking at the door.

"Hm," was all the young Uchiha replyed.

Sakura could see that Naruto was about to say something, but she never gave him the chance.

"No, it is not," she stated confidently, moving away from Sasori and Deidara to march by Ami towards the door. All the eyes in the corridor followed her as she came to stand in front of the two smirking chuunin. Overconfident idiots.

"You wanna go in, kid?" one of them leered and it was Sakura's turn to smirk.

"No, thank you," was everything she said as she pushed her chakra outwards in powerful wave and forcefully shattered their weak D-class genjtsu. The two guards, swayed on their feet for a second before they dropped to their knees, clutching their heads in pain. The sign over the door changed and a ripple of shocked voices raised in the corridor. "You call that a genjutsu?" Sakura asked them acidly, well aware that every genin in the room was focusing on her completely.

Most of their chakra signatures showed that they were weak, a few though were very powerful. Nowhere near her level and they could never stand a chance against Deidara or Sasori, but they were vastly better than the others. One was Sasuke, another Naruto, than a boy she'd glimpsed in the corner earlier with red hair and Suna's insignia, the two with him were stronger than the rest too, though weaker than their teammate. Yet another one was a green clad boy with Konoha's hita-ate and his teammate who was very obviously a Hyuuga. Those were the strongest ones. The rest were barely worth mentioning.

"What a weak little group," Deidara muttered as he and Sasori came to stand beside her. "A few are promising, but the rest... Bah!"

"Yeah," she agreed quietly, watching the two chuunin by her feet but focusing completely on the red-head in the corner. She could feel his piercing gaze on her. So, he'd sensed that she was way more powerful than the majority of wanna-be ninja in this room. "Some are dangerous," lastly she whispered to the blonde. "One is the red-headed Suna nin in the corner. The other is the blonde behind us. Those are jinchuuriki. The one-tailed racoon and the nine-taled fox."

"I see," Sasori spoke for the first time. "The Suna team in the corner are my cousins. The one with the painted face is a puppeteer too and the girl is proficient with wind jutsu. They're all three siblings. The youngest is the jinchuuriki."

"You sure have a colorful family," remarked Deidara slowly, cautioulsy eyeing the Suna team. Two jinchuuriki in one place couldn't be good.

"Doesn't matter," Sakura brushed it off. "If we ever get in the situation where we have to face one of the two, the easiest thing to do is a quick and powerful surprise attack to take them down before they can harness the power of the demon. I can take them down with a medical jutsu easily."

"The Konoha jinchuuriki, maybe," Sasori intoned carefully, masking any outwards sighs of what they were talking about. "But the one-tail's host is at a considerably higher level. He has absolute control over sand and is mostly a long-distance fighter. Plus, his defense is impenetrable. You'd have to be quicker than his sand to pull it off."

"Is it possible?" Deidara asked with a hint of worry. Sakura was stubborn and if she wanted to fight the jinchuuriki and something happened to her, Pein would have their hides. Not to mention what Itachi would do. The Uchiha would skin them alive and then quick fry them with one of his katon jutsu.

"It's not impossible," his partner answered, knowing exactly what Deidara was thinking about. "Gaara is still young and mostly inexperienced. He's strong, yes, but easily overwhelmed by an opponent of his own level. You're stronger than him, Sakura, but you're also slower. I don't know if you could take him down before he can use the Shukaku."

"Well than, steer clear of that freak and we should all be just fine, yeah," Deidara snapped, his agitation finally winning over his careful control.

"Don't worry. I'm not plannig on getting myself needlessly injured. I'm here only to pay that bitch Ami back for everything she'd done to me. Knowing her, she's probably a shit ninja, she sucked at the academy, even worse than Naruto. I can take her on without any problem. Sasori will just have to manipulate the main computer to let me fight against her in the final round."

"If you say so," the blonde almost pouted, but fixed her with a warning glare that said, 'don't do anything stupid'. She didn't answer either way and only turned to the stairs again.

"Let's go boys. We have to get to the third floor. Their pathetic genjtsu took more time than it was worth."

And with that they were off, leaving a room full of genin staring after them and whispering among themselves.

* * *

**AN: Number XI in Tidbits. I decided to give it a try since it refused to let me go, and here it is. :) Most of the characters are really OOC, I know, but I changed their lives drastically so it would be dificult to make them stay IC with these changes.**

**Well I hope that you wil give this story a chance and that you wil enjoy it. Please drop me a line or two and tell me what you think.  
**

**Jas  
**


	2. Chapter 2

**Heart of Darkness**

**by Jasmin Kaiba**

* * *

**Part II**

* * *

The first thing she saw when they entered the room was the hard visage of a grizzly looking Kumo shinobi. The older genin didn't move when they tried to squeeze past him and growing increasingly irritated with the attitude, Sakura glared at him before using a faint burst of medical chakra to force him to make way. Predictably, the guy didn't appreciate being shoved away by a girl only half his size and growled before he tried to strike her. He didn't get that far though; a bandaged and gloved hand shot up from behind Sakura and seized the man's wrist in a tight grip. Applying just enough pressure to make the bones grind together painfully Deidara emerged into the room and glared darkly at the large man that was now sweating and panting from pain.

"If I were you, I'd be careful who I mess with. Try something like that with my teammate again and you won't live long enough to take on the survival test, is that clear?" the blond whispered lowly, voice full of dark malice. The larger man actually whimpered as he nodded frantically. Satisfied, Deidara let go of his wrist and taking a hold of Sakura's shoulder, steered her deeper into the large classroom.

The large number of shinobi staring at them didn't intimidate Sakura in the least even if most were older and rugged looking. Those were the guys Itachi-nii had told her about. Wanna be ninja that took the exams again and again each time they were held and never passed. In her opinion they should realize that the shinobi line of work obviously didn't agree with them and they should simply give up and stop making fools of themselves.

One of those wanna be's, a Kumo genin again stepped up to her and bent at his meaty waist to be at her eye level. She stared right into his small, beady grey eyes and gave no indication that he intimidated her at all. Because he didn't. The man didn't get the hint of warning in her gaze and sneered at her. Deidara tensed beside her, ready to step in and introduce the brainless brute to a world of pain, but Sakura held a hand up to his chest. She had to deal with this on her own or they wouldn't stop harassing her. She had experience in that area.

"Listen here girly," the fat guy spoke finally, the stench coming from his mouth almost made her cringe, but she held her ground. "We don't appreciate your little friends cleaning up your messes. And if your pretty boy of a boyfriend doesn't apologize, I'll get you when he's not looking."

She smirked at him, artificial blue eyes dancing with dark amusement. Somewhere in the background she heard Naruto saying that someone should rescue her. As if she needed rescuing. "She doesn't need it." Deidara said shortly as Naruto came closer. "That guy is the one who's going to need a hero."

Sakura didn't wait for anyone to raise anymore questions and made lightening fast hand-signs never taking her eyes off the brute in front of her. For a moment her ice blue irises flashed a bright green and then the brute was staggering away from her, before falling to the ground, writhing in pain. The girl cocked her hands on her hips and looked at the rest of the gawking shinobi in the room. "Consider this a warning to never judge a ninja's ability by their looks. The next time someone tries to play the big scary man in front of me, I won't be as kind. I _can_ and I _will_ kill you if you piss me off enough. Have I made myself clear?"

The occupants of the classroom started muttering among themselves, but they turned away from her after a few seconds obviously taking her warning to heart. If they misbehaved again, she'd kill one of those useless fools to drive her point home.

Humbled as most of the other genin were, some had taken her little show of power for a challenge. She could feel their eyes on her, but paid them no attention. Anyone who wanted to fight against her would soon learn that they stood no real chance. The sooner they learned that the better. For them.

Suddenly commotion rose from behind and Sakura turned to see one of those older idiots trying to pick a fight with a younger genin. For a moment she simply stood there observing before a familiar face caught her attention. Kabuto. Outwardly remaining calm, she bristled on the inside, all her instincts screaming to go and punt the traitor across the room. But she managed to keep her wits about herself, moving quickly and blocking the larger guy's fist with her forearm. A moment later that same guy clutched his chest as blood started flowing from his nose and mouth. All the others in the room stood shock still and looked at the small kunoichi as she let the brute suffer for a moment or two before releasing the hold of her chakra on his lungs. The blood slowly stopped and he started wheezing. "Anyone else willing to pick a fight?" she challenged, glaring at the room in general. Nobody dared to move for a moment before she saw her former mentor coming her way from the corner of her eye.

"Medic-san," he addressed her politely having recognized her simple jutsu. "I'm sure nobody wants any trouble. There is no need to use such force."

So he didn't have any idea who he was dealing with. Wasn't much of a surprise, she'd already expected that. "Their previous behavior doesn't say as much. And it seems only brute force will make it clear to those brain dead idiots. If they didn't pass this exam by now, they never will. They're simply wasting the time of the examiners. It's not like they'll reach the final round anyway. So what difference does it make if I simply kill them now and spare us the extra effort in the survival exercise? Most of them won't make it out alive anyway. We're way out of their league."

"Medic?" came Ami's astonished voice from somewhere to her right, but Sakura paid her no heed. "You're a medic, really? That's so awesome!"

This time the smaller girl turned around and came face to face with the brunette she'd hated since she was six. "Yeah, I'm a full-fledged field medic. That means I'm just as adept at fighting as I am at healing."

"Wow. I've never met a field medic before, there aren't many in Konoha, mostly they work in the hospital and only leave the village on an emergency. Is it hard being a fighter and healer?" asked the other girl excitedly, obviously in awe of the medic. Sakura wondered if she would be as appreciative of her abilities if she knew who exactly she was.

"No, it is not," she replied smoothly, taking pride in her long range of accomplishments. "I'm a ninja first and foremost, I'm meant for fighting. The healing is just something that I happen to have a natural affinity for. Since my chakra control is absolutely perfect, it's only obvious that I'd learn the healing techniques since they come in handy to me and my teammates."

"Yeah," agreed Deidara, easily slipping into the conversation as only he could. "I can't count how many times you've healed yourself during training to jump back into a fight just when we thought you were down for good with broken ribs."

"Always the ribs," grouched Sakura unhappily. "I got blown off that cliff and broke four ribs before sensei got me. The idiotic fish-face kicked me so hard he cracked three ribs. Then you two imbeciles gang up on me during training, and bang five ribs are broken! Always the fucking ribs! I never break anything else! I'm fucking tired of healing my ribs every single time!"

"You really have no right to complain," Deidara reprimanded her. "At least you just break your ribs, but with me it's always the arms, and most of the time it's you who broke them."

"Not my fault you can't keep your hands to yourself!" she shot back, fully intending for the words to sound like they did.

Ami flushed a deep red and Naruto sputtered, while the rest of their spectators snickered at Deidara's scandalized expression. "That just sounded so dirty," commented Sasori calmly though the amusement was heavy in his voice.

"Didn't it?" was Sakura's highly exaggerated reply and Deidara glared at them both.

"Your _nii-san_ would tear me a new one if I dared to touch his 'precious little girl', not that I'd want to. You're not exactly my type, too skinny." But Sakura took no offence and only smiled at the mention of Itachi's affection for her.

"Well of course he would. And nobody really believes your claim, but keep telling yourself that and one day you might actually believe it," she smiled sweetly at him, while the people around them laughed.

"Wah," Ami gushed. "There's nothing more romantic than teammates in love. Isn't that right, Sasuke-kun?" she asked seductively and Sakura had to refrain from laughing at the boy's disgusted expression.

"That's stupid," stressed out the young Uchiha, making Ami's face fall dramatically and amusing Sakura greatly.

"It is stupid," agreed the small medic. "He," pointed to Deidra, „and I are not in love. Never were, never would be. We just like to tease each other; we're friends after all, right?"

The disgruntled blond nodded sharply but didn't say anything and Sakura diverted her attention from him again.

Their discussion was broken by the booming entrance of the examiner as most of the genin cringed and moved away from the huge, savage-looking man. Sakura took a good look at him and mentally compared him to Kisame. When put up to comparison with the blood-thirsty shark ninja, this grizzly, scarred beast of a man looked downright approachable. And if he were to ever stand beside Pein, their Leader's aura would make him seem like a sheep next to a wolf. It didn't matter that Pein could pass easily as a 'pretty boy'; anyone who ever felt his deadly aura would forget his looks instantly. It was the same with Itachi, though in a somewhat milder version. The elder Uchiha was ridiculously good looking and if it weren't for the darkness that swirled around him when he faced an enemy, nobody would ever be afraid of him.

Disappointed that their first examiner wasn't as scary as she'd heard, Sakura took a seat and noticed that Sasuke seated himself next to her, she had a feeling that the younger Uchiha might me thinking about challenging her. Shame really that she wouldn't be fighting him, ever; she'd been forced to promise Itachi-nii that. If he was scared for her or for Sasuke she didn't know. And she really would have liked to show little Sasuke-kun just what he was lacking in his training. But maybe that wasn't such a good idea, after all. The boy seemed like he took everything to heart, bruising his fragile ego wouldn't be any good but no one could force her to lose intentionally.

She listened with only half an ear to the hard, booming voice of the scarred jounin if front of the room, already knowing what this part of the exam entailed. Itachi-nii had also made chuunin in Konoha and it seemed they haven't changed their methods yet, how pathetic. Basically she was supposed to cheat her way through this without being caught. Not that she needed such underhanded methods to pass a theoretical exam, there was no question those close-minded idiots could think of that she wouldn't be able to answer fully and correctly. And even if it came down to nothing she could just sit still and wait out the exam time without answering a single question.

Most other examinees didn't know that of course and were sweating in their seats as some of them prepared to cheat as best as they could. Beside her Sasuke had activated his sharingan planning to copy the moves of the pen of anyone who appeared to know the answers. Naruto was short of pulling his own hair out by the roots in frustration. Ino, who Sakura saw now for the first time in years, was smirking confidently in her seat, no doubt planning to use her Clan's signature jutsu to cheat. Kiba had Akamaru on his head, Shino was looking at a tiny bug on his finger, the strong Hyuuga from the hallway had his Byakugan activated, a brown-haired bunned girl had managed to install mirrors on the ceiling and was manipulating them with thin, invisible wires, Suna's jinchuuriki was gathering sand in one hand and his brother was stealthily moving a hidden puppet while their sister stared at the open window with a soft smirk.

_'This is going to be interesting,'_ thought Sakura, amused, as she turned around her sheet and focused on the first question.

The questions were easier than she'd thought. Any ninja worth their hitai-ate should be able to answer them without a problem. But of course that wasn't the case; it wasn't even close to it. Some fifteen minutes ago Sasuke had figured out that she knew what she was doing and was copying her answers easily without Ibiki or his peons noticing anything. She was sorely tempted to do something and let them see what he was doing, but she'd promised Itachi-nii not to hinder Sasuke on anything. The next time she was going to think before she promised him something. This was seriously ruining her fun.

Sooner than she would have known, the written exam was over. She'd finished her own sheet a while ago and was amusing herself watching the others attempting to cheat. Some of them were succeeding, but most failed miserably. Every genin that got caught cheating was expelled together with their team. Well of course. Genin were taught teamwork after all, and here it was expected that they execute their stealth skills as well as their willingness to help their teammates. So far everyone but team ten had failed. Ino, Shikamaru and Chouji all used Ino's and Sahikamaru's skills to obtain the answers. Ino had at some point attempted to posses her, but as Sakura had far too many secrets to let Ino or anyone see them, she'd thrown Ino out with a little force, and after regaining her composure, the blonde had turned her jutsu on Sasuke.

Two rows in front of her sat Deidara, his illusive short mop of dirty blonde hair even more disheveled than before and she could particularly feel his artificial dark green eyes roll in exasperation and he simply sat there and waited for them to be dismissed. A few seats from him was Sasori with now shoulder length, reddish brown hair and almond shaped deep brown eyes. He was looking at his own answer sheet, but Sakura could detect the faintest traces of chakra strings leading to a puppet, smartly hidden behind Ibiki. The war-hardened jounin had failed to notice the small puppet, concealed in the headboard. But to his credit, not even Sakura would have known if she wasn't so sensitive to Sasori and Deidara's chakra that she noticed the manipulation strings instantly.

Deidara was now twitching in his seat and she could make out that he was pulling uncomfortably on the gloves and bandages around his hands. His blood-line limit had made Itachi and Konan worry for a while before Sakura suggested bandaging his arms, to hide the trait and the ANBU tattoo on his shoulder. The fingerless gloves had been Kisame's idea, to complete the look, the shark had said. All in all it didn't look bad, but it was uncomfortable and she imagined that Deidara was almost beside himself with anxiety. She would be too, if tight bandages forced her mouth closed for an undecided length of time.

Finally Ibiki announced the expiration of their time. The others looked on worriedly, awaiting the dreaded last question. But it never came. The ones left in the room all passed. This part of the exam was pathetic. They should have at least checked the sheets to see what the genin wrote, but no. Trusting fools.

* * *

Making her way to the Forest of Death with her teammates, Sakura took a moment to loosen the bandages on Deidara's hands a little. His joints were starting to lock and hurt and that wouldn't do. If he hadn't donned a sleeveless shirt she would have taken the bandages off completely and simply forced him in the gloves, but as it was the white gauze around the upper half of his torso had to stay on.

Upon arriving at the gates around the forest Sakura noticed a ninja she hadn't seen in the first part of the exam. The woman, at least she thought it looked slightly like one, wore some sort of strange uniform and the hitai-ate of Grass. But the chakra she could feel fluctuating around the sinewy form spoke of another story completely. Her hair stood up on ends and she forced her chakra to stay calm as a feeling of rage and hatred surged up inside of her. It was that freak of nature who'd tried to steal Itachi-nii's body, Kabuto's master, Orochimaru.

Sakura's eyes quickly darted to the second examiner, a female jounin in a mini-skirt, net shirt and a long trench coat. This could only be Mitarashi Anko, if she remembered what Itachi-nii had told her right. The woman was an extremely powerful kunoichi and had been apprenticed by Orochimaru before. Maybe this woman could be of use.

Her moment came as Anko threw a kunai at an unruly examinee and Orochimaru returned it with his tongue. Sakura had been standing not too far from Anko, and having already informed her teammates of who the Grass ninja really was, jumped in action.

In the blink of an eye, one of Sasori's puppets grabbed Orochimaru's tongue while a larger one restrained the Sennin's body. Anko looked bewildered for a moment and shocked silence reigned over the clearing. It was shattered seconds later as Kabuto tried to come to Orochimaru's rescue, only to be caught up and forced to a halt by Deidara. Sakura herself didn't lose anytime and launched a middle strength wind jutsu at the snake master. Orochimaru struggled against the hold of Sasori's puppets for a moment before he broke free and tried to evade the attack. He was a fraction of a second too late and the gust of wind caught him in the face.

Gasps resounded all around as the fake Grass ninja flew a few feet back, but managed to land on his feet. When the wind calmed, the skin of his borrowed face was half torn away and Anko was the first to react, her enraged hiss raising hackles of the assembled genin. _"Orochimaru!"_

The snake Sennin recovered fast enough and laughed softly as he regarded the jounin. "You sure have grown beautifully, Anko," he purred lowly and Sakura felt the hair at the back of her neck rise in disgust. Deidara and Sasori moved to her sides, taking on a vaguely defensive position as Orochimaru's gaze fell on them. "I don't think I've met you three. Would you mind telling me just who you are?"

Sasori, who had known the snake even longer than Sakura, answered. "We're Ame ninja, as you can see. We've seen you around Amegakure before and we know that orders are killing on sight if anyone comes across you."

It was true enough. All members of Akatsuki had been given the kill on sight order for the traitor after he'd defected. Sakura hadn't thought much about it before she found out that the bustard had tried to steal Itachi-nii's body. Of course he hadn't succeeded as there was only one person in Akatsuki and probably the world who could defeat the Uchiha genius and that was Pein. Orochimaru was much, much weaker than even Deidara or Sasori and didn't stand a chance against Itachi.

"So _Leader_ spread the word around his village. I'll never understand why you're all so loyal to him. He's a lunatic," sneered Orochimaru, playing on Pein's claims of being a God and the subsequent worship Ame's villagers showered their Leader with.

Sakura didn't believe Pein was a God, he most probably didn't really believe it himself, but she still liked and respected Pein. Worship was said too much, she was an Akatsuki, not a member of the Ame shinobi forces, and most of the organization didn't view Pein with half as much adoration as the villagers.

"Leader-sama is a powerful and well respected man. He's strong and wise and the best leader our little village could have wished for. You on the other hand are a mentally unstable freak of nature with delusions of grandeur," deadpanned the young kunoichi, knowing full enough that she was playing with fire. But Deidara and Sasori were with her and if that freak tried anything they'd introduce him to a world of pain. She could take on Kabuto any day and wasn't much concerned about it. Her two teammates knew it too and smirked confidently as Orochimaru growled in rage.

"You little brat," he hissed. "I'll teach you a thing or two about respect." With that he leapt at Sakura, but he never came near her as Deidara and Anko jumped at him at the same time.

Unable to launch his explosive clay creations with his bound hands, Deidara restored to small bombs tagged on kunai. Within minutes, the explosions had alerted the ANBU and jounin teachers that have been near the Forest of Death and Orochimaru was surrounded. Cursing under his breath he fled the premises, Kabuto taking after him.

As soon as he was gone Anko started cursing and swearing like a sailor before screaming at the ANBU to follow and catch the bastard. She was forced to stay and cleared her throat as she took in the speechless genin around her. "Well", she started awkwardly. "That was a former shinobi of Konoha. He defected years ago after Sandaime-sama found out about his vile crimes against the village and her shinobi. It seems that I have to thank you, Ame ninja," she turned to Sakura and her teammates. "To think that I didn't recognize him. How did you know about him?"

Sakura hurried to answer before Deidara or Sasori said something that would compromise their cover. "He came to our village about a year ago together with his apprentice, the white haired, glasses wearing boy. About that time, unknown to our leader, another Konoha nukenin was in Ame. I believe his name was Uchiha Itachi." She saw Sasuke stiffen at the mention of his hated brother, but continued before he could say anything. "Orochimaru attacked the Uchiha with the intention of taking his body. Their fight caused a commotion and our team was sent to investigate. We attacked them both upon arrival, but we were obviously too weak to even scratch them, but as a medic I am very sensitive to chakra and I remembered Orochimaru's the moment I felt it here."

"I see," Anko mumbled, one hand resting on her chin as she thought about the information she'd just been fed. "What happened to the Uchiha?" she asked suddenly, making Sasuke flinch and slowly turn towards Sakura who pretended not to notice him at all.

"By the time we reached them, Uchiha Itachi had already largely weakened Orochimaru. He may be a Sennin and all that, but the power difference between him and Uchiha Itachi was huge. I've never seen someone nearly as strong as that shinobi. Well save our leader, of course. I doubt anyone would have an easy time defeating a ninja of that caliber. Orochimaru didn't stand a chance. And I believe he may have come here to attempt taking the body of the only other Uchiha left. Itachi's younger brother. He was after the sharingan."

All eyes turned to Sasuke who stood there rigidly, almost shaking as he listened how even a Sennin couldn't win against his brother.

"From what I've heard," Sakura continued, taking sadistic pleasure in Sasuke bitterness, "Uchiha Itachi is elite among elite. The perfect shinobi. He may be a criminal, but I have to say that I can't help but be awed by such abilities."

Anko nodded almost absently and smirked slightly at Sakura. "Most ninja think just like you. And to a girl, it doesn't help that he looks the way he does."

"Oh, yes!" Sakura agreed eagerly. "He's unbelievably handsome. It should be illegal for a man to be so devastatingly beautiful. I pity any kunoichi that has to fight him. She wouldn't be able to concentrate."

A subtle coughing sound drew their attention to a slightly bewildered Deidara, who despite the topic of their conversation had remained strangely docile and hadn't said anything insulting about the Uchiha. This prompted a strange look from Sakura and a slight smirk from Anko who thought she had something figured out.

"Yes-?" asked Sakura, stopping herself from saying Deidara's name at the last second.

The blond smirked slightly obviously aware of her almost slip-up, but got serious again and fixed both kunoichi with a slight glare. Sakura only glared back and Anko's smirk widened. "We're here for the chuunin exams and not to discuss the positional attractiveness of a nukenin and mass murderer, right examiner-san?"

The other chuunin-hopefuls obviously backed his opinion and Anko was forced to return their topic to the survival test. "Okay," the brunette kunoichi snapped taking out two scrolls. "It goes like this..."

* * *

"And where exactly are we?" asked Naruto for the ninth time that hour. Sasuke glared at his teammate, but stayed silent and only looked at the black-haired medic. This girl was his only connection to the brother he hated more than anything else and he hadn't been able to get a moment alone with her since they stumbled across each other in the Forest of Death. Each time he tried to catch her alone they were interrupted, either by her nosy blond teammate or his obsessive brunette one and he had not yet had a chance to talk to her.

"We're on the way to the tower, now be silent Naruto," snapped the medic and returned her attention to the map her teammate had drawn.

Daisuke, the nosy blond, had climbed the highest tree he could find and scouted the forest with a scope he had hidden beneath his unruly fringe. Then he'd drawn a detailed map. Ayaka, the medic, had mentioned that he was a recon and espionage specialist. Her other teammate, the silent puppeteer Higano was a poisons master and largely more interested in the Forest's abundance of flora than whatever his teammates were up to. However, Sasuke had noticed that both males kept a close eye on their female counterpart and never left her alone for a longer period of time.

The youngest Uchiha didn't understand that. Sure, he and Naruto protected Ami when she got herself into trouble, but they'd never been so over-protective of her. Well, Ami got even on Naruto's nerves most of the time, and she had the tendency to drive Sasuke insane every second of the day with her overbearing affections and her overall uselessness and was as different from the slightly grouchy medic as he was from Naruto.

Sasuke watched quietly as Ayaka folded the improvised map and pocketed it together with her compass. The Ame team had come prepared, unlike most of the others, including them. In her small, light pack, the medic had everything they might possibly need, including a fully equipped first-aid kit. When Naruto had inquired about it, she'd said that it was required of field medics to have at least one such kit when out on a mission. Other than that, she had spare weapons, a chakra based ninjato concealed in a scroll and several scrolls of medical ninjutsu. One such scroll contained extra rations and water canteens instead of jutsu. Her two teammates had such scrolls too. They were obviously more experienced in field work and had probably completed several C to B class missions where as Team 7 could only boast one such mission.

What Sasuke didn't know, was that Deidara and Sasori had completed countless missions, but Sakura had never been on one before. She had been privileged to better training and teachers of the S-class variety that concentrated solely on her. One of them was the most powerful ninja in the world, with a doujustu that no one else had. Training with Pein was intense and very, very hard. She'd had to beg Itachi-nii for two straight days before he allowed her to take up Pein's offer. It had been well worth it, as her chakra stamina and her already precise control had skyrocketed and she'd advanced her taijutsu by several levels. Not to mention her genjutsu. Her once strong point was now even stronger thanks to Pein's relentless drills and teachings. After the Akatsuki's leader was through with her, Konan had taken her in and improved her speed and ninjutsu drastically.

Sakura, as she was, was easily on the same level as a jounin and had already realized her elements. Pein had forced her to discover that earth was her main element and thanks to Deidara, who was a former Iwa nin and more than proficient with earth jutsu, she learned more about it than she otherwise would have. Her secondary element was wind, which was Konan's main and she'd drilled Sakura in a few very effective jutsu, like the one she'd used on Orochimaru earlier. Her weakest affliction was with water but she didn't know any water jutsu yet. Kisame had attempted to teach her, but she simply couldn't control them as they were high leveled. The shark didn't know any simple jutsu either. But Itachi-nii had promised to find her some scrolls when she came back so both she and Kisame could learn them.

Looking at the lithe and graceful moves of the medic as she stood up and stretched, Sasuke was uncannily reminded of his brother. Itachi had had that same unruffled and confident presence. Though the Uchiha genius had been more introverted and definitely a lot quieter than the dark-haired medic, the way the girl moved was almost identical to his brother's. And her hair. That waist-long, luxurious hair was the same shade of muted brown-black as Itachi's. If her eyes weren't that striking pale blue and instead a deep warm shade of black, Sasuke would have thought of her as an Uchiha and expected to see her eyes turn crimson at any moment. Sometimes she even talked like Itachi. It must be that she's on a higher mental level than most people Sasuke encountered. Higano had said something along the lines of the petite medic being a genius in her own right. She'd discouraged that by stressing she just possessed enough brains to not be an idiot, but Sasuke clearly noticed that her speech patterns matched those of Itachi and even Kakashi when the older man was serious. The two men were well known genii and he was even surer that Ayaka was the same.

His musings were interrupted as Ayaka stared to move away from the group and Daisuke stood up as well, following after her.

"Huh? Where are they going?" asked Naruto, looking at their retreating backs.

"Ayaka is going to meditate and he is keeping an eye on her," came Higano's monotone reply as he leaned back against the tree he'd been sitting under.

Naruto cocked his head to the side and scratched his chin. "Now don't get me wrong," he started with a hint of confusion, "but why are you protecting Ayaka-chan so much? I mean from what I've seen she's really strong and capable of defending herself."

Higano turned his dark messy head and fixed Naruto with a level stare. "Of course she can protect herself, but she's also Sensei's favorite and if something were to happen to her, Daisuke and I would the ones to get punished."

Their punishment, if such a thing really occurred and Sakura was hurt somehow, would come more from Itachi and Pein than from Konan and that was far worse. Sasori had a healthy self-confidence, but he also knew that he had small chances against the Uchiha and no chances at all against their Leader and his Rinnegan. It was better they make sure that Sakura was alright all the time than risk something happening to her and incurring the wrath of those two. Sasori was practical if nothing else and avoided danger if he could. Deidara was another matter completely, but even the reckless blond knew better than to play with fire. Well, most of the time.

Far enough away from the group to be safe from spying and eavesdropping, Sakura plopped down under a tree and folded her legs in the lotus position. Deidara came behind her at a somewhat slower pace and sat down next to her, drawing his knees lightly towards his chest. Closing her eyes, Sakura assumed the traditional meditating position, but Deidara knew she wasn't here for that. After a few seconds he felt a surge of chakra from her, before it thinned out. She was expanding her senses to scan the area for any other genin teams coming their way. They had gotten both scrolls pretty easily, but now they had to be on guard because they could be attacked anytime by some other team who wanted one of the scrolls.

She stayed in that position for some time and Deidara zoned out, staring at the strip of sky visible through the thick canopy of trees. He would be happy when this whole thing was over and they returned to Ame. Being here like this, constantly in her presence was slowly wearing him down. He'd grown accustomed to sometimes not seeing her for weeks on time when he was away on missions, and now this time he was forced to spend with her every day, the whole day was crumbling his resolve and thinning his control.

Suddenly she shifted and he looked at her to see her eyes open as she stretched her arms over her head.

"Did you sense anything?" he asked quietly, turning away from her again and tugging at the bandages on his hands.

"That Suna team is not far from here, but I doubt we'll cross paths. And that team from Konoha with the Hyuuga and the guy in the green spandex is close too, but they should be no problem. But I also sensed a team from Sound closing in. We're their aim," she whispered, chancing a look at him and seeing that he was still almost nervously tugging on the bandages.

"Sound, huh? Orochimaru sent out his peons to do his dirty work why doesn't that surprise me? And what is he expecting that a team of measly genin, no matter how disgustingly arrogant they are would be able to beat us?" Deidara scoffed and made a jerky gesture with his arms.

"Well," she started slowly, aware that he was in a dangerous mood right now. "He doesn't know who we are exactly. To him we're just a team of genin, devoted to Pein. He'll try anything to slight the Leader, even going as far as attacking us, just to prove something."

"Of course," the blonde scowled something fierce and threw his head back against the trunk. The sound it produced worried Sakura momentarily but she knew better than to interfere when he was in one of those moods. Being around Sasuke had made him incredibly edgy and even more prone to exploding than usual and that was something Sakura didn't need to experience personally. "A cowardly snake like him would do something like that. What I don't understand is how he doesn't know who we are. I mean, it's understandable he doesn't know me; he defected before I joined, but you and Sasori are another matter completely. Hell, you were his apprentice's student."

"That's just the thing. Back then I was well below his notice. Kabuto taught and trained me, yes, but Itachi-nii always made sure that I would never be alone with Orochimaru. Truth to be told, I only saw him up close once before he tried to steal Itachi-nii's body and defected after he was defeated. As for Sasori, well let's just say that his reticence of being near other human beings made him unapproachable, mostly the likes of Orochimaru. And even without all that, I seriously doubt that he would have remembered our chakra signatures anyway."

"What about Kabuto? He didn't recognize you either."

Sakura smiled in that small infuriating way she'd picked up from Itachi and looked him straight in the eyes. "Kabuto may be a medic, but he's suffering from the same problem as his master. They're both so blinded by their own arrogance and imagined superiority that they simply fail to perceive danger when it's about to bite them in the ass. Shortly after Orochimaru defected, Kabuto came and tried to kill me. He didn't want a hostile shinobi with the same abilities as him walking around. Leader and Konan stopped him. He managed to get away before Leader had the chance to kill him, though. I'm sure that if he'd had any inclination as to who I was he wouldn't have hesitated to attempt killing me again, earlier."

"He could have tried," Deidara growled lowly and dangerously. "The only thing he would have gotten for his efforts would have been his own death. I would have blown him to pieces before he ever came near you."

Sakura smiled truly and widely before scooting closer to lean her head on his shoulder. For a second he stiffened and she feared that he would move away, but he relaxed slowly and after a moment even shifted to allow her to rest more comfortably against him. "I appreciate the sentiment," she murmured lowly, "but I can look after myself. You don't have to protect me, Deidara. Even if it makes me feel special."

"Bah," the blonde scoffed and threw her a shrewd look even if he didn't move away from her. "I'm just looking out for myself. I don't need the Uchiha and Pein on my ass if I let you get killed on my watch."

He smile only widened and she shook her head before leaning her cheek against his neck affectionately. "I wouldn't expect anything else of you. If you suddenly turned into a gentleman it'd be very weird if not frightening. I like you just the way you are."

"Hmm," he just sighed shortly, but said nothing.

"They're coming. They'll be upon Sasori and the others in seconds."

Deidara nodded but remained seated as she made no inclination of moving. "Should we go now?" he asked instead.

For a moment she was silent as if she was thinking about something but then he felt her head move against his shoulder. "No. Not yet. I want to make a dashing appearance."

Even though he couldn't see her face from the angle he could _feel_ her slightly sadistic smirk. "You just want to see if those sound freaks will kill little Sasuke-kun."

"Now, now, Deidara. Why would I want something like that to happen to Itachi-nii's beloved otouto?"

This time the blonde laughed outright and threw his arm around her shoulders. "You might love the elder Uchiha with all your heart, but you despise his little brother with a ferocity that runs just as deep. It's called jealousy and as much as I want to say that it's not becoming you, I'd be lying. You're just as sadistic and twisted as the Uchiha, perhaps even more so."

Deidara was so clueless. Itachi-nii may be a bit twisted from everything he'd seen and done, but there was no sadistic bone in his body. He played the part flawlessly, but when it comes down to it, he is as honorable as he ever was. She on the other hand played the part of the innocent little girl that couldn't hurt a fly, but inside she wished she could kill Sasuke with her own hands if it would rid Itachi-nii of his one but potential mortal weakness. But Deidara didn't need to know that.

"Maybe you're right, Blondie. But that's something to discuss another time. Now we have to save three worthless brats."

"Right," Deidara nodded and they both stood and jumped into the trees, ready to pummel some Sound ninja into next week. "I've been craving a good fight."

"This will be a short fight at the best," retorted his female companion and he nodded, but run just the same. Short or not, it was time he got the chance to kick some major ass or he would blow the forest up.

* * *

**AN: The second part, finally! It came out later than I would have liked, but I bought a new computer, and some of the documents on my old one went missing while I was trying to transfer them and I had to write it again. It turned out a whole lot different than the original version, but I still hope that you liked it. I'm working on chapter three, as that one went missing as well, including number 4 and 5, unfortunately. That means that I have to write everything again, and that will take a while since those chapters were pretty long. Number 3 was as long as 1 and 2 combined, 4 and 5 a bit shorter, so I hope you understand if I lag behind on the updates for a while, again…**

**Well either way, I hope you liked it anyway and will continue to support this story.**

**Drop me a line or two to let me know how you liked this chapter, your encouragements make me write faster and feed my inspiration.**

**Jas **


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